The present invention relates to a method of rapidly determining the gender of fowl. The present invention relates to a new breed of turkey, designated as Gender-specific Fading Down (GFD).
The commercial production of breeding turkeys requires the separation of newly-hatched poults by gender; that is, male poults from female poults. Prior to the early 1960's, commercial turkeys were mostly color-feathered and the breeding methods practiced then provided a system of separating poults based on the color of their down at hatch; i.e. the down of female poults was one color, while that of the male poults was another color. This method was referred to as color sexing'. However, during the early 1960's, commercial breeders and processors, who had difficultly removing unsightly dark pin feathers from color-feathered turkeys, demanded the selection and propagation of white-feathered commercial birds. These birds contain a "White gene" that prevents the expression of color in the down of the poult and in the feathers of the adult. This change made color sexing impossible.
Currently, the gender of a poult is determined by visual or mechanical examination of its genital region (commonly referred as its cloaca or vent) shortly after hatch. The examination is typically accomplished by a specially-trained human being with or without the aid of a mechanical sensor. While commercially acceptable, several problems arise from this method of determining gender. First, it is not absolutely accurate: male poults can be misidentified as female poults. Secondly, the process of examination requires extensive physical manipulation of the poult, including modest pressure on the bowel to express feces from the lower digestive tract, spreading of the legs to view the genital region, and finger-tip manipulation of the genital region itself to make identifying characteristics visible. This procedure is stressful to the poults at best and causes physical damage at worst. Damaged poults fail to thrive and will result in an economic loss. Third, the nature of this procedure promotes the spread of disease through flocks. An infectious agent from a single infected poult can be transferred to the human examiner and subsequently transferred to previously uninfected birds. Diseased poults will fail to thrive and will result in an economic loss. Fourth, this method of examination is time-consuming.
It would be advantageous to determine the gender of turkeys without having to examine the genital region in the aforementioned manner.
The present invention is a new breed of turkey, designated as Gender-specific Fading Down (GFD). The GFD breed of turkey contains a genetic mutation which suppresses the genetic effect of the White gene in the poult, but not in the adult. Newly hatched poults of GFD parentage have gender-specific colored down. Male poults have black down while female poults have brown down. This color difference facilitates rapid, accurate separation of poults by gender. As the turkeys grow, the suppressive action of the genetic mutation fades, and the colored down is replaced by white plumage. At commercially relevant ages, the turkeys are completely white. The fading characteristic of this mutation is paramount in the production of desirable white turkeys.